As consumers continue to demand mobile access to many computing and communications services, technology continues to evolve to accommodate consumer demand. Ideally, consumers prefer to have access to most, if not all, of the same computing functions presently available at home or the office despite being away from such resources. In response to consumer demand, a wide variety of portable electronic devices have become commercially available. For example, individuals can track and store a variety of personal information using conventional personal digital assistants, communicate with friends, family, and business contacts using cellular telephones, and listen to music through portable radios, compact disc (CD) players, and/or Motion Picture Experts Group-1 Audio Layer 3 (MP3) players. A variety of other portable devices such as portable short distance radios and global positioning system (GPS) receivers are available to consumers as well.
The majority of commercially available portable devices are sold as single function units. That is, the consumer typically must purchase a music player separately from a cellular telephone, or a citizen band radio separately from a GPS receiver. Typically, consumers must carry a plethora of electronic devices should the consumer wish to travel with calendaring, music, communications, and the like. Even in cases where one or more of these devices are available in various combinations within a single unit, frequently, no single combination device is able to meet the consumer's full range of needs.
Although each device may not be burdensome to operate alone, when used in combination with one or more other devices, the consumer can be overwhelmed with connections, wires, cables, and attachments. To better organize the various electronic devices a consumer may carry, several varieties of carry-alls or electronic device organizers are available. Still, as the benefit of using a portable electronic device is the immediacy and ease with which the different functions of the device can be accessed, storing the device in a carry-all may not prove to be convenient. For example, by the time a consumer is able to locate a ringing cellular telephone within a carry-all, the call may be missed. By the time one finds a personal digital assistant within a carry-all, the opportunity to use the sought after information may have passed.
Assuming that a consumer is able to carry each of the various portable electronic devices that the consumer needs or desires, the consumer still must have one or more hands free in order to operate any given device. With respect to travelers, however, this is not often the case. More than likely, travelers use one or both hands to carry luggage, a carry-on bag, or possibly a personal digital assistant. To operate any of the traveler's portable electronic devices, the traveler may have to stop, put down one or more bags, search for the device, and only then proceed to use the desired device.
Other users, for example individuals who enjoy walking, jogging, hiking, bicycling, motorcycling, boating, or other activities, also rely upon portable electronic devices such as GPS units, music players, cellular telephones, voice memo pads, and the like when engaged in sports or other outdoor activities. Such individuals, however, not only must have one or more free hands to operate a given device, but also must be able to divert their attention away from an ongoing activity to operate the device. For example, the user typically must watch a dial or display as a radio is tuned, as a volume is adjusted, and the like. The use of ones eyes and hands, however, can cause a break in rhythm and concentration and may even cause an accident.